PROFITS. V 13 



size from a single tree. More extraordinary re- 

 turns are on authentic record ; the preceding are 

 scarcely greater than good selection and good man- 

 agement will often insure. And what amount 

 would an acre of such trees yield to the owner ? 

 An acre of cherries, for instance, might include a 

 hundred and fifty trees. Four dollars from each, 

 the lowest example just given, would be six hun- 

 dred dollars per annum, a sum almost incredible, 

 and yet not impossible, with the best management 

 and selection, in the neighborhood of cities. The 

 same number of the best early peach trees, usually 

 of smaller growth than later sorts, would occupy 

 an equal space, and the crop afforded would not 

 be less profitable. There are few trees, which, 

 well attended to, would yield less than two or 

 three bushels, and as a consequence afford a return 

 of three to ten dollars each. An acquaintance, on 

 being asked, last summer, what he received for his 

 fine early peaches, replied, " Whatever I ask." 

 The price was three to four dollars ; which was 

 but little more than that obtained by his neighbor, 

 whose peach orchard covered ten acres. But it 

 must be remembered that those often regarded 

 erroneously as very fine, will not command such a 

 market. A cultivator found he could sell fine 

 specimens of the Early York peach, sooner at a 

 dollar and a half per bushel, than the common 

 " rare-ripes,"of the country, on the same day, for 



